JPS599235B2 - How to remove oil from water and bags - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to the removal of oil from water.

In recent years, the problem of disposal of oil on water, for example as a result of leaks from tankers or blowouts from subsea wells, has become an increasing concern.

Various methods have been employed to address this problem, including the use of cleaning agents and skimming devices to pick up oil from the water surface. However, cleaning agents are expensive and pose their own contamination risks. Scooping devices are usually complex and require significant investment and operating skills to manufacture.
They require maintenance to remain fully operational and are generally only operated fully satisfactorily in moderate conditions. GB2020265 describes different methods of dealing with oil leaked into water, including the use of feathers to pick up oil.

The patent contemplates the distribution of feathers into oil.

This method is described in M. Sitting's Oil Leak Prevention and Removal Hunt Hook, page 392, published by Noise Data Corporation in 1974, and in the newspaper "Evening Standard" published on April 10, 1978 in London, England. It has also been proposed in a paper. however,
The suggested technique of using feathers is impractical even in covert weather conditions. It is difficult to accurately feed the feathers into the oil. It has been found that the feathers tend to pick up little, if any, oil simply by being blown off the top of the oil. GB2020265 also describes the use of feathers that are pressed into packages that are dropped into oil.
However, this has some drawbacks. It is difficult for oil to penetrate inside the package. It always takes a certain amount of time for the oil to come into contact with the inner feathers, and then
The feathers become soaked. Therefore, the ability of the feathers to pick up oil is reduced. U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,913 discloses an open mesh container that collects oil from an open water surface. The container is filled with a mixture of oil-absorbing material, in particular glass fibers, and recycled tire cord. Even in this case, it is difficult for the oil to reach the interior of the container.
Another drawback is that oil leaks from the absorbent material when the container is removed from the water. Also, the container requires a floating material to ensure that it does not become excessively submerged. The above problem is solved by using at least one bag loosely containing bird feathers in the water to be treated, the bag being large enough to allow contact of the oil with the feathers and retaining the feathers within the bag. It has been found that this can be overcome by removing oil from water by a method that comprises having openings in the feathers that are small enough to allow the feathers to pick up the oil.

Currently, the exact process by which feathers attract and pick up oil, whether by absorption or adsorption, is not well understood;
For convenience, it is referred to as ``chitoku'' here. The use of bags that loosely contain feathers can significantly improve the ability to remove oil from water.

The individual bags are heavy enough so that they are not blown off the surface of the oil into the air without giving the feathers an opportunity to come into contact with the oil. Furthermore, for ease of handling, it has been found that the bags can be joined together and distributed over the surface of the oil spread. The invention further provides a bag for removing oil from water, the bag being large enough to loosely accommodate bird feathers and allowing oil to enter the bag and contact the feathers. Moreover, the opening is small enough to hold the feathers within the bag.

Preferably, two or more said bags may be joined together. In the following description, reference is made by way of example to the accompanying drawings. The bag of the invention is loosely stuffed with bird feathers.

Advantageously washed and dried chicken or turkey feathers can be used. Preferably, the feathers are chest hair, fluff or falcon feathers. Washed, dried and curled chicken feathers, especially hen feathers, are most preferred. The exact amount of feathers in each bag is variable, but must be less than enough to fill the bag and allow the feathers to displace and mix inside the bag, so that all It must be kept so that it is coated with oil.

The feathers should not be so numerous that they are packed or compressed into the bag. The bag must have at least some flexibility and must not be so stuffed with feathers that it retains its shape when placed in oil on water. When the bag is held at one end and the feathers settle within the bag, preferably about 1Z to 3/4 of the volume of the bag, most preferably V3 to Z, is occupied by the feathers in their normal uncompressed state. An example of the relationship between the volume of the bag and the feathers contained in the bag is shown in FIG.

In this figure, the bag 1 is suspended from a device (not shown) that holds the top end 2 of the bag. The feathers 3 that have settled on the bottom of the bag are in their normal uncompressed state. Feather 3 is approximately V2 of the volume of the bag.
occupies Each bag of loosely packed feathers preferably has a "tee bag" shape, ie, a nearly rectangular shape, so as to allow a large surface area of the feathers to be contacted by the oil.

Alternatively, the bag may be sausage-shaped. Preferably the bag is made of steel material. The mesh material may be a foreign or common material, which may be synthetic or natural fibers such as nylon. The size of the opening of each bag depends on the size of the feathers to be accommodated. However, when opening each bag []
The portion must be large enough to allow the oil to contact the feathers contained in the bag, yet small enough to retain the feathers within the bag. Typically, the maximum dimensions of each opening are approximately 1.5 x 10 m (1.5 mm)
The bag is 4.57 x 10-1 m (1V2 feet) square,
It may accommodate 3.5 x 10-1K7 (3509) feathers. The dimensions of the bag may be varied to suit different conditions of use. For example, larger bags may be used for large oil spreads. Smaller bags may be used for in-harbour use in coastal waters close to shore or in areas that are difficult to reach. The feathers may be dyed to allow easy identification of the bag when dropped into an oil spread. The bags may be used individually or joined together.

In the latter case, the bags are preferably combined in any number of chains or groups. For example, a chain of 5.50 or more connected bags may be used. The bags can be joined together in any suitable manner, for example using hooks, ties or tag devices. Thus, ropes or chains can be used to connect the bags to each other. An embodiment in which the bags are joined together with ropes is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

In these figures, bags 10 of mesh material are attached with clipping devices 12 at spaced intervals along two continuous sections 11 of the rope. Each bag 10 is made of a mesh material, thus allowing oil on the surface of the water on which the bag is distributed to contact the feathers 13 within each bag. Various techniques can be used to make the bags.

When made of thermoplastic material, the open sides of a suitably partially filled bag of feathers can be sealed by applying heat and/or pressure. Alternatively, the open end may be sewn closed. A chain of connected bags may, for example, include a device for sealing appropriate portions of a strip of mesh material together to form a pocket that is open along at least a portion of one side thereof, and a By feeding one or two strips through a device comprising a device for stuffing the loose feathers into the pocket through the opening and a device for sealing the opening of the pocket thus stuffed. Manufacturable. If the bags are made individually and it is desired to join the bags together, each bag may be provided with a device for joining it to other bags. The chain of bags may be cut into short lengths or joined to form a long chain. The chains may be placed side by side and joined together. The length of chain used in any particular case will depend on several factors, including the type and size of the oil leak, weather conditions, and location. The bag is
It may be packed into a container before use.

For example, a chain of bags may be accordion-folded and packed into a container under high pressure. From 6 to 8 tons or more of purified chicken feathers in this manner can be packed into a typical 40 foot container. A bag of loose feathers is used for the water to be treated so that the feathers can pick up the oil. The bags may be distributed in any suitable device, such as a helicopter, aircraft or port. Alternatively, the combined bag may be pulled by the boat through the oil or through the spread of oil between two ports, with one
One boat throws net bags into the oil, while other ports pull up bags containing oil. The bag may be thrown directly into the oil or into the predicted path of the oil drift, but in the latter case the feathers lose some of their ability to pick up oil as they become wet. Therefore, it must be implemented with care. It is possible to use the method of the invention for oil spreading in both salt water and fresh water.

The method of the invention can therefore be used to treat oil spills in inland seas, tanker loading/unloading ports and open seas. First, estimate the weight of the oil to be picked up and then use the amount of feathers from Vl4 to V2O by weight of the estimated weight of oil to obtain the amount of feathers needed to tackle a particular oil spread. It is possible to estimate the amount. More or less can be used as desired. Once the bags are distributed, the feathers within each bag can slowly pick up the oil they come into contact with without additional agitation.

However, both wind and sea motion can be aided by throwing each bag, thereby exposing all the feathers within the bag to contact the oil more rapidly. Therefore,
Unlike other methods of dealing with oil spread, rough conditions are advantageous. The feathers become saturated with oil after a relatively short period of time, in some cases even within minutes. This depends, for example, on the nature of the oil spread and on weather conditions. Oil-saturated feathers are easily removable from water.

The bag can be pulled out of the sea using a net. The feathers retain oil while water drains out of the bag. Therefore, the oil picked up on the feathers can be recycled if desired. Bags loaded with oil usually float. Alternatively, the bag may be submerged with a weight within the bag or a weight attached to the bag, if desired. The use of bags containing loose feathers can result in a significantly higher weight ratio of oil to feathers collected during a short period of time.

A variety of oils are successfully removed from water in the tests, including Arguer crude, Kuwaiti crude, North Sea crude, diesel oil, petroleum oil, and mixtures of fuel oil and diesel oil. A bag of loose feathers can be used to pick up oil in the form of a "mousse".

Crude oil, fuel oil or a mixture of fuel oil and boiler oil is
For example, when leaked onto the ocean surface, oil goes through various stages of consistency. When oil is first leaked to the sea surface, the more volatile components of the oil begin to evaporate, thus causing some increase in the viscosity of the oil remaining in the sea. Due to weather conditions, this oil begins to emulsify in seawater. If conditions are more rough, the seawater will mix with the oil and form a water-rich emulsion. It is difficult to calculate the time at which this occurs, as it is highly dependent on the conditions, but in any case it can occur from 4 to 24 hours. Water, oil emulsion. Yon's degree becomes somewhat creamy and therefore '
called "Moose". Moose either form a continuous layer on the sea, or eventually fragment into chunks of various sizes.
The bags used to pick up the "moose" need to be filled with very loose feathers. The amount of feathers in the bag should be at or below the lower end of the preferred ranges mentioned above. "Moose" appears to attach to feathers, and is found in this way.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a bag of the invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of two bags of the invention joined together and floating on the surface of an oil spread; FIG. Figure 3 shows a cross-sectional view of one of the bags in the figure. 1, 10...Bag, 2...Top of bag, 3
,13...feathers.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. At least one bag containing bird feathers is used for the water to be treated, and the bag is large enough to allow oil to come into contact with the feathers; A method for removing oil from water by having an opening small enough to retain the feathers and allow the feathers to pick up oil, characterized in that said bird feathers are loosely contained in said bag. How to do it. 2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the bag of oil-loaded feathers is lifted out of the water. 3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the bag is made of mesh material. 4. When the bag is held at one end and the feathers settle within the bag, 1/3 to 3/4 of the volume of the bag is occupied by feathers in a normal uncompressed state. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the bag has a rectangular "tea bag" shape or is sausage-shaped. 6. Claim 1, characterized in that either individual bags are used for the water to be treated or two or more bags joined together are used for the water to be treated. The method described in any of the sections from to Section 5. 7. A method according to claim 6, characterized in that two or more bags are joined in a chain. 8 Contains bird feathers and has an opening large enough to allow oil to enter the bag and contact the feathers, but small enough to retain the feathers within the bag, and capable of removing oil from water. A bag for removal, characterized in that the bird's feathers are loosely accommodated within the bag. 9. A bag according to claim 8, characterized in that said bag is made of mesh material. 10. When the bag is held at one end and the feathers settle within the bag, 1/3 to 3/4 of the volume of the bag is occupied by feathers in a normal uncompressed state. A bag according to claim 8 or 9. 11. A bag according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that the bag has a rectangular "tea bag" shape or is sausage-shaped. 12 each having an opening large enough to contain the bird's feathers and to allow oil to enter the bag and contact the feathers, but small enough to retain the feathers within the bag;
Two or more bags joined together to remove oil from water, characterized in that said bird feathers are loosely contained within each said bag. 13. Two or more bags according to claim 12, characterized in that the bags are joined together in a chain. 14. Two or more bags according to claim 12 or 13, wherein each bag is made of mesh material. 15 When the bags are held at one end and the feathers settle within the bags, from 1/3 to 3/4 of the volume of each bag is
Two or more bags according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that they are occupied by feathers in a normal uncompressed state. 16. Two or more of the claims 12 to 15, wherein each bag has a rectangular "tea bag" shape or is sausage-shaped. bag of.